Reviewed by Sarah Goodman Duffy
Review Source: Teaching for Change
Book Author: Ashley Herring Blake
It took me until I was seventeen to figure out I was Queer. No crushes on girls. I pretended not to have them because it would have been easier to like a boy. Just the overwhelming realization that much of what I thought was friendship was actually more. Having a book like Ivy Aberdeen’s Letter to the World when I was in middle school would have been a complete game changer.
The book follows 12-year-old Ivy Aberdeen and her family in the aftermath of losing their house to a tornado. The worst part? Ivy loses her notebook with her secret collection of drawings of girls holding hands. This is when Ivy meets June. They find each other in the school library under an Emily Dickinson poster with the quote: “This is my letter to the world that never wrote to me.”
When they return to school after the storm, pages of Ivy’s notebook start to appear in her locker with notes from an anonymous person encouraging her to tell someone about her drawings of girls and what they mean. Ivy suspects, hopes, this person is June. Blake completely captures the feeling of a first crush and the overwhelming feeling of it being you against the world that so often dominates people’s preteen years. As Ivy grows closer to June, the possible keeper of her notebook, and drifts farther away from her family, she begins to figure out what exactly her letter to the world is.
It is unnecessarily difficult to find books, especially for young people, that center Queer women. Ivy Aberdeen’s Letter to the World is a wonderful portrayal of growing up as a Queer person and the trials, tribulations, and joy of being a girl who likes girls.
Sarah Goodman Duffy served as a summer 2025 intern with Teaching for Change as a rising senior at Connecticut College, where she is double majoring in educational studies and art. When she’s not working, she can usually be found at a local coffee joint, drawing people on the Metro, or reading books by or about Queer people.
Find more recommended books on this topic on our LGBTQ+ booklist.
Ivy Aberdeen's Letter to the World by Ashley Herring Blake
Published by Hachette+ORM on September 24, 2024
Genres: LGBTQ
Pages: 442
Reading Level: Grades 6-8
ISBN: 9780316515498
Review Source: Teaching for Change
Publisher's Synopsis:
In the wake of a destructive tornado, young Ivy develops feelings for another girl in this tender novel, perfect for fans of The Thing About Jellyfish .
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